Handling Delays in Car Shipping Routes from USA to UAE

If you’ve ever shipped a car across oceans, you know patience is part of the package. Sending a vehicle from the United States to the United Arab Emirates can feel like waiting for a slow-moving chess game—you think you’ve got the timeline figured out, only for a sudden move to change everything. Delays, unfortunately, are not the exception in international car shipping; they’re more like an unwelcome guest you eventually learn to accommodate.

The first time I shipped a vehicle from New Jersey to Dubai, I tracked the cargo vessel obsessively, refreshing updates like it was a football score. Everything seemed on schedule until the ship anchored off the coast of Spain for several days. No explanation, no clear updates—just silence. By the time the car arrived in Jebel Ali, it was almost two weeks later than planned. That’s when I realized: the best way to handle delays is not just bracing for them, but learning how to navigate the ripple effects they create.

Why Delays Happen in the First Place

It might be tempting to blame delays on “bad shipping companies,” but the truth is usually more complex. Multiple factors converge in the transatlantic supply chain, and many of them are beyond anyone’s control.

Port congestion: Ports like Newark, Houston, and Los Angeles see heavy traffic. If the ship can’t get a berth, it waits. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for days.

Weather conditions: Storms in the Atlantic or Mediterranean can slow down ships or force rerouting. I’ve seen vessels that were supposed to head straight for Europe detour south toward calmer waters, adding days to the journey.

Customs clearance issues: Missing paperwork, mismatched VIN numbers, or unverified titles can hold a car in limbo both before it leaves the US and when it lands in the UAE.

Mechanical issues with vessels: Ships, like cars, break down. When they do, schedules collapse.

Global shipping backlogs: The COVID-19 pandemic taught us how fragile supply chains can be, with ripple effects still visible today. Container shortages and labor disputes continue to cause bottlenecks.

Understanding these causes doesn’t make waiting easier, but it does shift your perspective. Instead of assuming negligence, you start to see the web of moving parts that have to align.

The Emotional Toll of Waiting

One thing rarely mentioned in “official” shipping guides is the emotional side of delays. If you’re exporting cars as a business, every extra day at port can mean storage fees, strained cash flow, and frustrated buyers waiting on their vehicles. For private buyers, the delay feels even more personal—your dream SUV or sports car is stuck on the other side of the world, and you can’t do anything but wait.

I once had a buyer in Abu Dhabi call me three times a day when his Cadillac Escalade got held up in Valencia due to a customs hiccup. He wasn’t angry so much as anxious. The Escalade was supposed to be a birthday gift to himself, and the timing mattered. It made me realize that when delays occur, managing people’s expectations is just as critical as managing logistics.

What You Can Do Before Shipping

You can’t eliminate delays entirely, but you can prepare in ways that reduce the odds or soften the impact.

Double-check paperwork: It sounds obvious, but half the delays I’ve seen come from documentation issues—wrong VIN numbers, incomplete titles, or missing inspection reports. A single typo can mean a week of waiting.

Pick the right port of departure: East Coast ports like New York or Baltimore tend to have shorter sailing times to the UAE compared to West Coast options. Fewer stops usually mean fewer chances for disruption.

Choose your shipping method wisely: Container shipping offers more security but can get caught in container backlogs. Roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) is faster to load and unload but may face scheduling bottlenecks. Your choice depends on the vehicle type and urgency.

Work with an experienced freight forwarder: A good forwarder doesn’t just book space; they troubleshoot problems before they escalate. I learned this after working with a new agent who forgot to confirm container space—the delay added nearly a month. Lesson learned: experience matters.

During the Delay: How to Stay Sane

Once your car is on the ship, you lose direct control. But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless.

Track intelligently: Many shipping companies offer online tracking, but updates can be vague (“at sea” isn’t exactly helpful). Pair it with third-party ship-tracking websites that follow vessels via AIS (Automatic Identification System).

Stay in touch with your agent: A proactive agent can explain why a ship is sitting in Rotterdam instead of heading to Jebel Ali. Sometimes it’s as simple as “waiting for bunkering fuel.”

Communicate with buyers: If you’re exporting cars for resale, be upfront with customers. Most people will accept a two-week delay if they feel informed. What frustrates them is silence.

After Arrival: Navigating UAE Port Delays

Even when the ship finally docks in Jebel Ali or Khalifa Port, the waiting game isn’t over. Customs clearance in the UAE can present its own hurdles. Missing documents, discrepancies in declared value, or even small mismatches in engine numbers can stall clearance.

Here’s one example from my own logbook: a Toyota Land Cruiser arrived in Dubai with all paperwork in order—except the bill of lading listed the color as “silver” while the car was technically “gray.” That single inconsistency triggered an extra verification process, adding three days to clearance. It felt absurd at the time, but customs officials were just following protocol.

Practical Tips for Handling Shipping Delays

Over the years, I’ve collected a few strategies that help turn delays from disasters into manageable hiccups.

Build in buffer time: If you tell a buyer the car will arrive in six weeks, secretly plan for eight. That way, if delays happen, you still meet expectations.

Budget for storage fees: Ports and shipping lines often charge for extended storage. Have a small financial cushion for this—otherwise, delays can eat into your profits quickly.

Know alternative routes: If a ship can’t dock at one port, sometimes rerouting through another makes sense. Your agent should be able to advise here.

Keep digital copies of all documents: If papers get “lost in transit,” being able to email a scanned version immediately saves days.

Don’t panic over silence: Sometimes ships simply don’t update their location for security reasons. A lack of updates doesn’t always mean disaster.

When Things Go Really Wrong

Every exporter eventually faces a worst-case scenario: a ship breakdown, a cargo rerouting, or in rare cases, a lost container. While extremely uncommon, it pays to have insurance in place. Marine cargo insurance may feel like an unnecessary cost until the day you need it.

I once knew an exporter who skipped insurance to save a few hundred dollars. His container ended up water-damaged during a storm near Gibraltar. The SUVs inside required thousands in repairs. He never made that mistake again.

Turning Delays Into Lessons

Strange as it may sound, shipping delays can teach you resilience and resourcefulness. You learn to plan better, anticipate hiccups, and manage people’s expectations. For me, the real shift happened when I stopped treating delays as disasters and started treating them as part of the business rhythm.

There was one shipment—a GMC Yukon—that spent almost three weeks delayed due to a strike in a European port. By the time it arrived, I was half-expecting the buyer in Dubai to cancel. Instead, because I had kept him updated the whole time, he simply said, “You did your part, the ship didn’t. Let’s get it cleared.” That taught me something: honesty and communication carry more weight than flawless timing.

The Bigger Picture

At the end of the day, shipping cars from the US to the UAE is a business shaped by global currents—economic, political, and literal oceanic currents. Delays aren’t going anywhere. The trick is not to fight them but to learn how to weave them into your planning.

Whether you’re an individual importing your dream car or a dealer moving fleets of SUVs, the mindset matters. Expect delays, prepare for them, and when they happen, handle them with a steady hand. The cars eventually arrive, and if you’ve managed the process well, your relationships with buyers and partners remain intact.

And when you finally see your shipment roll out of Jebel Ali port after weeks of waiting, there’s a strange satisfaction. It’s not just about the car; it’s about surviving the storm—sometimes literally—that stood between you and the finish line.

Published on: Sep 08, 2025

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